Father Jacob, played by Martin Shaw, is a British Catholic priest who is next in line to assume the Vatican's positions of chief exorcist. As you may guess, he is very talented at exorcising the demons of the possessed. The demons, fallen angles, are eager to take hold of human bodies, since they are tired of the suffering they must endure in hell. Roughly, this is how the story goes. Although the story line sounds quite ridiculous, I must admit that I was intrigued by the show. As an atheist, it took quite the suspense of disbelief to keep watching, but I found myself questioning interesting notions put forth and challenged throughout the show: Father Jacob lives in a world in which both demons and saints can possess people; a world in which Satan acts but God relies on faith; evils is apparent but good only implied. All in all, the show has decent entertainment value, some very nice acting, and an interesting (albeit a tad ridiculous) storyline. Unfortunately many of Apparitions' plot twists are left hanging in mid air, and many things remain unexplained by the end of the 6th episode. It seems like they may have had a little too much faith in their viewers to make sense of all of it.

This is an excellent show with superb writing. I just discovered it and was disappointed to find there only seem to be six episodes. I would have given it 10 stars if they had made more! It was probably an expensive show to shoot but is still much better than 90% of television on the air. Here's hoping that someone will want to make more. This is what the recent movie featuring Anthony Hopkins should have been had the writing and story line been stronger. I hope if someone buys it they don't try to re-do it in the US as it will probably be a weaker version. I would hate to see it watered down to the Sc-Fi "Being Human" equivalent. A fan in Texas

This is a 6 part series following Father Jacob, a somewhat maverick priest performing exorcisms against the wishes of his superiors, who believe it is an antiquated practice that brings the church into disrepute. The series develops as the episodes go on, with the introduction of his secretary, Sister Ruth who provides the role of the disapproving sceptic; and with interesting and unpredictable cases that Father Jacob becomes involved in. These are interwoven with the continuing story of Michael, an ex soldier who succumbs to demons. Throughout, the series explores the subject of faith and raises interesting questions, tackling some difficult subject matter without actually imposing any ideal on the viewer. I hope they make another series!

Martin Shaw first came to my notice in the Professionals back in the 80's (action cop/spy drama cheasy version of Spooks), he is a very respected and accomplished Shakespearean and TV actor here, of late the BBC have constructed a number of easy on the eye and brain dramas for him eg Judge John Deed and George Gently and I expected this to be another of the same, however I was pleasantly surprised.It had grit, good acting, a fairly good plot and scampered along nicely, I missed the initial airing and watched it on the BBC's iPlayer facility online, I will tune in next week to watch it live.Give it a go you might be pleasantly surprised.